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The unknown citizen (1)

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10 views2 pages

The unknown citizen (1)

Uploaded by

Farheen Khatoon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Unknown Citizen W.H.

Auden

Summary

The poem begins with the speaker stating the fact that throughout his life
there was never one “complaint” against the citizen. No one thought badly
of him, in fact, he was more like a “saint” than anything else. The next
section of the poem tells of the man’s popularity. He was well-liked by his
friends, social enough to be normal, and dedicated to his work. The man
served the “Community” for his entire life. The only lapse in his work for
his company was when he went to serve in the “War,” and now, after he
has died. The speaker also states that the man read the newspapers to a
sufficient degree. He went to the hospital once, but left quickly, “cured,”
as he should have been. The citizen consumed all the latest technologies,
as a “Modern Man” should, and owned the proper devices. In the final
section of the poem, the speaker concludes his report. He states that the
man was “for” war when he was supposed to be, and for “peace,” when
the government told him to be. The last lines prompt the questions a
reader might have been wondering the whole time. Was this man happy?
Was he free? These are things that the speaker sees as “absurd.” He states
that, of course, the man was happy, the government would have “known”
if he wasn’t.

The man was as susceptible to advertising as he was supposed to be, and


committed to the news of the day. Continuing in the theme of
this dystopia, it is quite likely his life was consumed with
the propaganda produced by these agencies. It is hard to know who this
person truly was with these purely surface-level details.

Additionally, the man went to the hospital, but did not stay long. He left
“cured” just as he should. He was sufficiently healthy and sufficiently
interested in acquiring all the appliances a “Modern Man “would need. He
had,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
In the final section of this piece the speaker concludes his report on the
“unknown citizen.” The researchers at “Public Opinion,” perhaps the
government organization the speaker works for as he uses, “Our,”
conclude that the man had all the “proper opinions.” The propaganda was
doing its job and the man believed what he was meant to. He was an
advocate for what the government told him to be, whether the was
“peace” or “war.”

The man’s personal life consisted of a normal wife, and “five children” that
were “added…to the population.” The number was not too many or too
few, it was just “right” for a man of his “generation.”

The final lines of the piece bring greater attention to the absurdity of the
poem’s premise. The speaker, as if defending himself, states that the
“question” of whether the citizen was “free” or “happy” is absurd. He was
certainly happy, otherwise, “we should…have heard.”

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